Well, the council for the City of Hamilton will only offer $5 million dollars towards a velodrome for the Pan-Am Games, not the expected $22 million dollars requested by the organizing committee. This matter of where and how much for the velodrome has taken some months of attention after over a year of waffling on the Ivor Wynne stadium rebuild and whether it should be combined with the velodrome in the north end. See the committee's response in the link at the end of the article.

Emma Reilly Tue Oct 11 2011No go for Velo

The Toronto 2015 committee has said it will look elsewhere for a city to build a Velodrome for the upcoming Pan Am games, saying the city’s offer of $5 million is not a sufficient contribution.

"This contribution, while generous, does not represent a sufficient financial commitment to go forward with plans to build a velodrome in Hamilton," committee CEO Ian Troop said in a statement.

Hamilton does have municipal infrastructure issues that have lingered for some years. The idea of the City promising significant dollars while saying it has no money to fix waterlines or roads does not go over well with some taxpayers.

It will be interesting to see how Toronto copes with its funding for the Pan-Am Games.

The Pan Am games have changed over the years, because the Federal Govt., is against target shooting.

I know one time some Cdn competitors were only allowed to PRACTICE with air pistols & not the true h/guns the other countries were allowed.

Also our Club was open to Trap Shooting only the Pan Am Games no longer includes Trap Shooting so the club will not bend its back to help, if asked no matter what the sport.

I was President of the Gun Club, when the head people at Penticton demanded a place for 26 people to shoot .22 rifle in prone, kneel & standing position ALONG with proper facilities for anyone that is handicaped.

That was thinking like this B.C. Provincial Sport was to be of Olympic Standards. Good gosh if you are crippled even as a member the Club is NOT geared to someone that crippled.

True we have obtained a used Tractor< at some cost< so that when it is snowing that costly tractor can make it easy enough to use a two-wheel drive vehicle, but like so many others with 4-wheel drive I have an ALL WHEEL DRIVE so I can make it up or down the steep narror road without the work of the tractor. Possibly the latter is because I worked for so many years as a farmer to also hauling my fruit bins to the packing house, to even towing my Garette (3-wheeled self-propelled unit that would allow the boom to raise or lower plus also swing to the left or right), to one orchard on the south side of town to the other orchard on the Noth side.

Legacy building or expanding options for para-athletes in other countries: The Toronto Parapan Games committee is providing $5000 grants to 27 countries to use for acquiring sporting equipment for their para-athletes. Apparently, gear is hard to find in many countries so improvisation is the usual plan B in sport.

Access to para-sport equipment is one of the biggest barriers to participation in sport for people with a disability — especially in developing countries, notes Kristina Molloy, director of Parapan planning and integration.

With those challenges in mind, the games’ organizing committee invited the 27 chefs de mission to a marketplace at the Sheraton Centre on Queen St. West on Thursday. Team leaders had the chance to meet equipment suppliers and select para-sport gear to bring back home, thanks to $5,000 grants from the organizing committee.

The goal, Molloy said, is to elevate the paralympic movement across the Americas.

Ontario government officials are warning residents to plan their travel for next summer carefully as 235 kilometres of regional roadways will be designated high-occupancy-vehicle lanes, off-limits to any cars with fewer than three occupants.

That's one more person per car than the two-person minimum currently allowed on the 48 kilometres of existing HOV lanes that are included in a 1,500-km Games Route Network that will connect 30 venues and 12 Para Pan Am sites.

While officials admit there will be delays on regular traffic lanes, they are providing more carpool opportunities and transit options.

No time like now, seven months and a bit ahead, to start considering other roads for getting around if the 400 series highways are designated. I would like to know the transit options being provided. Will there be special shuttle buses at major municipal or GO bus stations to take spectators from the GTA to the sporting venues? Burlington GO and Square One GO stations come to mind for Milton's cycling competitions.

The Hamilton stadium that is the site for the soccer games continues to generate stories about non-payment to the trade sub-contractors working on the project. Four companies have filed liens against the property hoping to get the Ontario courts to solve the issue.

According to the Hamilton Spectator, since late December, land registry documents show construction liens totalling more than $2 million have been filed against the Balsam Ave. N. stadium property by subcontractors Clifford Masonry, Reimar Construction, Brascon Stainless Steel Fabricators, and Lancaster Group. Clifford has the largest claim at more than $1 million.

Sean Martin, director of operations for Reimar, said the company is owed $160,000 for overtime when the push was on to complete the stadium in time for the Ticats to play their annual Labour Day Classic.

“We got signed commitments (from the general contractor) on a daily basis that the overtime was extra to our contract,” he said, adding the company is disappointed that it put in the extra effort and is not being paid. Reimar was responsible for the concrete foundations and concrete for the stadium steps.

The Tim Hortons stadium in Hamilton got officially opened last week to Hamiltonians keen to see what the venue looks like so far (there are lots of little things to still finish) as the City has given the venue an official occupancy permit.http://www.mississaugapanam.ca/index.php/calendar-of-events

Now I better understand the Ontario government's wish for a 20% reduction in traffic for July-the Pan Am Games ticketholders will be allowed to board public transit for free & most of the Games' venues do not have parking lots.